


Remnants of Jor-El

by missmishka



Category: Man of Steel (2013)
Genre: Gen, I'm buying more comics (curse you Nolan you got me again), a series of drabbles really, but I liked it and ran with it, but I'm impatient and my muses want to write now so..., canon death references, experimental POV, no idea where this idea came from, spoilers for the movie, still making my own Kryptonian canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-16 03:16:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/857140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmishka/pseuds/missmishka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>“Tell me.  You have Jor-El’s memories; his conscience.  Can you experience his pain?”</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remnants of Jor-El

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: The usual warnings, I claim no ownership of these characters, they are simply borrowed with love and adoration from the original creators to have their stories, thoughts or circumstances embellished on a little more than the original format had done. Not for any profit.

It is a curious thing to be awakened after such dormancy.    
  
Jor-El’s program is up and running in the Genesis Chamber after having been activated by Kal-El, Clark by his Earthen name.  The program is quick to assimilate and take control of the ship, as most viruses are.  It is not a normal virus or program, though, it is a creation of Jor-El, one of the scientist’s last and best works into which he literally put the whole of himself.  
  
Though it knows itself to be a program, it thinks of itself as Jor-El.  It thinks _like_ Jor-El; feels and reasons just as the man had.    
  
The program had _felt_ such pride upon seeing Kal-El grown, so broad and strong; healthy and thriving in this foreign land just as Jor and Lara had pinned all their dreams upon.  It had been what the man would have felt and the consciousness that he implanted in the programming felt it as if it were its own.  The program had felt the same gratification and mournful regret that the scientist would have had he himself lived to be in that moment meeting his grown son and knowing that all of Krypton had surely been lost in the time since Kal-El had been sent to Earth.  
  
And when, days after being activated, the scout ship’s systems detect the approach of another Kryptonian vessel approaching Earth, the program feels the same disbelief, wonder and _hope_ that Jor-El would have.    
  
 _Could it truly be possible that others besides Kal-El had escaped the collapse of their home planet?  Had Jor-El and /or Lara, perhaps, finally found a to reunite with their offspring?  Had members of the Council finally taken heed of Jor-El’s warnings and made some escape?_  
  
The moment that the ship was within range, the program is able to detect the familiar frequencies of Jor-El’s programming upon the inbound vessel and it spreads into the systems there to learn all it can about the arrival.  
  
What it finds on board horrifies and dismays.  
  
Zod is a survivor of Krypton along with his followers in the attempted coup.  The program learns from files in the ship’s computers that they had been sentenced to the Phantom Zone for three hundred cycles of somatic reconditioning for their insurrection.  General Zod’s file contains an additional entry that staggers the program.  
  
 _Murder; Jor-El_ , listed as the last crime committed by the warrior before capture.  
  
 _Murder; Jor-El._  
  
 ** _Murdered?_**  
  
 ** _By Dru?!_**  
  
If it had been more than a figment of Jor-El left implanted in binary codes and electronic circuitry, this news would have brought it to its knees.    
  
For all their disagreements, all their differences, never had the possibility of one dying by the other’s hand occurred to the program.  Jor-El never would have been able to slay his friend and one would have thought that Dru-Zod would have had his own hand stayed by memories of all that they had shared.  To learn of this betrayal; to read of the recounting of events entered into record by Lara Lor-Van...the program withdrew its consciousness and returned the scout ship on the planet below, unable to take in any additional information just then.  
  
While it reels with feelings, the technology works quickly to begin assessing what it means that General Zod has only just neared this planet.  The illuminated consoles of the Genesis Chamber twitter with activity after having been brought from dormancy by the Kal’s command key and the program knows.    
  
This ship being brought on line would have activated the beacons, sending out transmissions and hailing and Kryptonians that may yet live.  
  
 _Would there be others?  More survivors from former outposts drawn to this new sign of life?_  
  
A question such as that matters little in the face of Dru-Zod approaching.  The General was just that, a _General_ , and if he had gone so far as to slay Jor-El in his battle for the supposed survival of their race then Earth is in the gravest of danger and the program has no way to send warning to Kal-El.  
  
Jor-El had never been one for idling and the scientist’s impetus to be of use had been instilled into the program.  General Zod’s plans would soon be revealed, the program would return to their ship and determine what course of action they plotted.  In the mean time, as the remnants of Jor-El within the program grapple with the news of loss and betrayal, the technology began to work.  
  
~*~  
  
Dru does not sleep at night.  
  
That is not uncommon.  The memories transferred from Jor-El into the program have many instances of past moments when Dru-Zod did not sleep, but this is far different from those times long past.    
  
This is not a Zod kept awake by Jor-El’s curious exploration of his body, nor is it the burgeoning warrior kept restless by want for battle.  In the dark isolation of his chamber aboard the vessel, this is a Dru-Zod that Jor-El had never encountered in his living days.    
  
The program draws reference from others to describe the man as he stands staring out an observation window toward the colorful orb that is Earth; his posture is weary, his expression haunted and he is, overall, simply aged.  One might define him as defeated, but even the program knows that such a word can never be applied to General Dru-Zod so long as he draws breath.  
  
He is a man heavily burdened and the Jor-El within the programming wants to make himself known to Zod and offer guidance; support.    
  
 _Comfort._  
  
The program has calculated the risks and advantages of making contact with Zod and the conclusion drawn is that it must remain hidden in the system as long as possible.  There is a battle coming between them once more for the future of Krypton and Dru has already ended any chance that the real Jor-El had to help in that cause; the program has to be stealthy to avoid the General doing the same with it.  
  
Yet it finds itself continually drawn to the surveillance circuitry in these quarters, observing Dru as he is now and remembering him in all the ways that he had been then.  The program curses its creator for having put so much of his heart into the creation of this technology because the phantom feelings are troublesome and distracting to the logic required for any hope of success.    
  
If the real Jor-El had been here, seeing Dru like this would have crippled him.  
  
 _But the real Jor-El is not here because Dru-Zod murdered him_ , and the program must keep that at the forefront to prevent sentiment from overruling necessary action.  _Again._  
  
“How much of this did you see before you sent your abomination here?” Zod speaks suddenly into the silence, terse and quiet as is his apparent habit at such times.  “Did you know what it looked like?  Blue waters practically everywhere, white clouds, green landmasses.  Is this where you thought our people would survive?  I see nothing of worth, my friend.  Nothing to have been worth...” he snaps his jaw shut and closes the hatch over the window to block out the view of Earth.  
  
The program records the moment as it has several others along this vein.    
  
Dru does not sleep, he speaks to Jor-El as if haunted by the man.  
  
The program wonders what would happen if it allowed the hologram of Jor-El to appear and answer the General’s musing.  
  
~*~  
  
The command key’s insertion into a port aboard Zod’s vessel gives Jor-El’s program the opportunity to actually download into the mainframe to access real controls in the system rather than just ghosting around it all like a spy.  
  
Lois Lane is an industrious young woman and the program feels Jor-El’s satisfaction in seeing her.  “Clark” has feelings for this one and she would make a fitting mate for the last son of Krypton.  She is quick to learn from the program, asking a few needless questions as she adapted her reasoning to taking cues from the hologram of a dead scientist, but quickly focusing on the vital information that was relayed to her.  The program has faith that she will be able to do what is needed.  
  
So long as she can get safely off this ship.  
With full access to the vessel, the program guides her to an escape pod, opening and closing doors as needed, using all the surveillance systems to direct her through the maze of corridors.  It is invigorating to be so all-seeing and knowing, to be everywhere and everything at once.  The Gods must fear scientists if there remain any like Jor-El who have such ability to craft technology capable of such omnipotence.  
  
Unfortunately, the being only a program means that it is actually _nowhere_ and _nothing_.  The hologram is useless in preventing Lois Lane’s escape pod from being damaged, but the unlimited access aboard ship soon puts him with Kal-El to send the man after her.  
  
Zod’s followers witness the hologram assisting in the Earthling’s escape and the program knows that the countdown has begun.  
  
~*~  
  
Jax-Ur had long been a cautionary tale to the scientists of Krypton.  Jor-El had known the legend well and also known that the story was often told specifically to warn him away from his more controversial studies.  The two had never met, though, and the program finds that it expected someone ... _more_.  
  
Long before the fall of Krypton the scientist had been sentenced to the Phantom Zone for his zealotry in experimentation in mass destruction and interplanetary travel with the intent of domination.  His work cost Krypton a moon and thousands of citizens in a horrific explosion that the man had engineered using technology inspire by their aging sun Rao.  For this catastrophic failure on a non-Council sanctioned endeavor he was banished to the Phantom Zone for eternity.    
  
The program calculates that the prisoner had likely completed five cycles of somatic reconditioning which could account for the sudden change in expertise.  The Jax-Ur sentenced to the Phantom Zone had been a warrior’s scientist bent on military technology and explosives.  This Jax-Ur that the program now watches seems exceedingly proficient in eugenics, scurrying around his apparent lab with his vial of Kal-El’s blood to test and marvel at as he liked.  
  
The program knows what is in that blood; knows very well those final actions of Jor-El and Zod could never learn that.  Zod learning that the Codex was literally _in_ Kal could only end in disaster.  Having read the files and actually _seen_ Dru-Zod’s intentions as he revealed them to Kal left the program with only one conclusion; Zod would not use Kal’s genetics to bring the Kryptonian legacy to Earth.    
  
General Zod fully intended to conquer this planet and use the Codex to remake this civilization in the ruined image of their homeland.  He would repeat every mistake that their leaders had made and he would see squandered the potential that Earth offered to them.  
  
Jax-Ur could not, _must not_ , run his tests and learn the secrets in that blood.  
  
The program runs though the systems, seeking the controls for the machines currently running diagnostics on the vial, but it seems to hit a firewall.  It runs through the surveillance on the chamber, seeking something to destroy the machines, but it can find nothing within it’s power to move as it had the doors while aiding Ms. Lane’s escape.  
  
“You will find this to be my domain,” Jax-Ur speaks suddenly as he moves to the main console in the chamber.  “All things within respond to my command key and you will not find that by-passable, Jor-El.  You should know how careful one must be to prevent our inventions falling into the wrong hands.”  
  
With its presence known, the program prepares to create the holographic image of Jor-El to attempt to speak to this scientist.  Jax-Ur’s fingers move quickly over the control panel and he glances up just as Jor-El’s image flickers into place in front of him.  
  
“Interesting,” the scientist’s quirks a brow more derisive than intrigued, “I will inform General Zod of your presence.”  
  
Before it can form words for Jor-El to speak, Jax-Ur taps his index finger on the console and the program is harshly booted from the systems within the chamber.  The anti-virus software is quick to give chase until it has reclaimed the circuitry touched by Jor-El’s program.    
  
The program finds itself banished back to the scout ship as a holographic image of Jor-El staring up from Earth at the Kryptonian vessel.  
  
The feeling of omnipotence that it had felt is swiped from it’s memory as the program is jarringly reminded that it is quite impotent.    
  
With no physical presence there was little that it could do to aid in this war.  
  
~*~  
  
General Zod took longer than anticipated to stride into the Genesis Chamber like he owned it; in moments, the program was sadly certain that the ship _would_ belong to Dru.  
  
A foreign command key is thrust into the console and Dru lifts his head in obvious wait once the key is in place.  
  
Knowing what is expected, the program projects Jor-El’s image to walk into the chamber to face the man.  
  
“Stop this, Zod, while there’s still time.”  
  
He pivots away from the console to locate the source of Jor-El’s voice and rears back slightly with the briefest of blinks as he takes in the holographic image as one would imagine a person reacting to a ghostly encounter.  
  
“Haven’t given up lecturing me, have you? Even in death,” the words are angry with a bitterness that pricks at Jor-El’s conscience.  
  
 _Had he been too harsh in his judgments in their youth?  If he had encouraged more discussion rather than allowing arguments to fall to forgotten silence for the sake of harmony between them, could they have somehow gotten to a different end than **this**? _ The program thinks just as Jor-El would in that moment; feels just as the man would have as it moves the hologram closer.  
  
“There are other options here.  Kal is evidence of that.  This planet can shelter us all,” the flickering image implores as it nears Zod.  
  
“There is no _us,_ " he hisses.  "You saw to that in our youth then I insured it with your death.  Krypton is _mine_ , it is all that _I_ have left and I will see it flourish again on this world that you chose.”  
  
“I will not let you use the Codex like this.”  
  
“I would have used it differently centuries ago, but again, you, prevented that.  The Codex was never yours to decide how it will or will not be used.  It is the future of our people and your only redemption is that you did not steal it forever from my reach.  Accept now, as you would not then, that you do not have the power to stop me.  The command key I have entered is revoking your authority.  This ship is now under _my_ control.”  
  
“This ship is a creation of my family; piloted long ago by a daughter of El.   You will not erase me from it.  Stop this course and I can help you.  Together we can-”  
  
“I extended that same offer to you only to have it cast aside like my unwanted touch.  There is no _we_ left; only this figment of you,” he flings a dismissive hand through the air and deliberately drags his gloved fingers through the projection, “and _this monster I’ve become_.”  
  
The program remembers those words spoken in the last moments the two men had shared on Krypton before Jor-El transferred his consciousness and finalized preparations to send it to Earth with Kal-El.  Arguing seems futile, as always, with Dru-Zod.  
  
“Our people can coexist,” it reiterates firmly, changing tact.  
  
“So we can suffer through years of pain trying to adapt like your son has?” Zod stands before the hologram like it can be cowed by his assertive stance.    
  
“You’re talking about genocide,” the program is unimpressed by the show of aggression.  
  
“Yes,” Zod nods, “and I am arguing it’s merits with a ghost.”  
  
The realization seems to hit home as soon as he says it.  With a blink, his shoulders slouch just a fraction as he remembers that he is not arguing with the real Jor-El and all the reasons why the real man is not present to be lecturing.  He turns away from the hologram.  
  
The program goes through a thousand possible arguments and entreaties in it’s database; from the sentimental to the logical; the instigating to the imploring.  It finds nothing of use to be drawn from the stored history of the two men.  
  
“We’re both ghosts, Zod, can’t you see that?” the program argues.  “The Krypton you’re clinging on to is gone.  This is your chance; your opportunity to do as you wanted.  How better to sever the degenerative bloodlines that led our homeland to ruin than to begin _new_ bloodlines?”  
  
“You wish me to _mate_ with these people?!” Zod casts a look of revulsion over his shoulder at the notion.    
  
“It would not be necessary to do so, but think of what could be achieved if you did?  Or Faora?  Stop using her as a blade for your cause and give her rest for battles well fought.  Let them all be truly freed from the Phantom Zone and all lingering bonds of our old world.  Let your ghosts go, Dru, and think to a more prosperous future for our people than the Council ever would have considered.”  
  
The revulsion turns to steadfast determination as the man blocks his ears to such words.  
  
“Ship, have you managed to quarantine this invasive intelligence,” he asks of the system.  
  
“You’ll fail,” the program declares, scrambling to hold on with nothing to hold _with_.  
  
“I have,” the ship responds to General Zod.  
  
“Then terminate it,” Zod commands with one more glance back at the hologram, “I’m tired of this debate.”  
  
“Silencing me won’t change anything.  My son,” the program goes for it’s final red flag to wave in challenge, “is twice the man you are.”  
  
Zod turns stiffly to face the hologram, fury and affront in every line of his body.  
  
“He will finish what we started.  I can promise you that.”  
  
“Tell me,” Dru asks in stilted tones as he glares at the the holographic image. “You have Jor-El’s memories; his conscience.  Can you experience his pain?”  
  
The question opens a floodgate and the system runs back through all the _feelings_ that it has experienced since activation on this planet.  The knowledge, the _emotion_ , is betrayed by a flickering of the projection much as a living person would give a tell-tale flinch or blink.  
  
“You acquitted yourself with honor in Kandor.  Had he not already been so corrupted, I would have held to our traditions and raised him proudly as my own in your stead.”  
  
“I shall thank the Gods then that you did not find him sooner for you were never worthy of Jor-El nor should you delude yourself that you are fit to take his stead in any endeavor,” the program jeers, feel its hold on the ship’s circuitry being pried loose by the new programming.  
  
“I will harvest the Codex from your son’s corpse and I _will_ rebuild Krypton atop his bones.”  
  
With that, General Zod stalks violently back to the console and jams his hand against the command key to drive it home and send the order to erase Jor-El coding from the servers.  
  
The last thing the program captures in its memory banks is the image of Dru-Zod’s white knuckle grip on the edge of the console and the bow of his back as he seems to be fighting the urge to look back one last time.  
  
There is no time to get in a final or parting word; with a push of software the hologram and the final remnants of Jor-El fade to oblivion.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where the Jax-Ur inclusion came from and I wove in some bits from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jax-Ur) but it just kind of bugged the bejesus out of me that Jor-El's "conscience" could slam doors shut in soldier's faces and guide Lois off the ship but he couldn't mess with that blood sample in some way to stop that whole revelation about the Codex?! So I had to justify and explain it away to satisfy my own headcanon and put the theory out there if it was bugging anyone else. 
> 
> I'm really pretty sure that all of this has more holes than Swiss cheese for y'all to poke at, but I got very wrapped up in the idea and like the end result. Some of it is a bit weak, in my own opinion, but those are parts that just didn't stick with me after seeing the movie and I can't get the best grasp as I try to remember them so you'll notice I kind of fast-forward through those areas. My strength is the end scene which I practically remember word for word because I fangirl like that. I deliberately tweaked and embellished some there so don't look for all of that in the movie. Or comics or novelization. I would die to have it as a deleted scene on the DVDs tho.


End file.
